falloutfanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Skull-Taker
onGWF8mz1Zw Before the Great War, Connor Prowse was simply an insane asylum patient who had been institutionalized in Oregon State Hospital. After the Great War though, Prowse escaped and wandered the wasteland, joining a survivor band. Eventually, he became known as Skull-Taker and rose to become a cannibal warlord who razed Seattle and controlled much of Oregon. When he died, Skull-Taker became enshrined in the local tribal pantheon and many tribes in Oregon trace their roots back to him. History Childhood and Teenage Years Connor Prowse was born in 2055 in the Northwest Commonwealth, Salem specifically. His parents were comfortably middle-class and already had three children when Connor was born. In many people's eyes, Connor had a wonderful childhood, receiving many toys and having numerous playmates. However, as Connor developed into his teenage years, his young mind fell victim to a sickness: schizophrenia. Near his eleventh birthday, Connor began hearing the voices. At first, he was able to repress their beckons. However, as puberty hit and his resolve waned, Connor began to act more erratically. His grades suffered, and many of his friends left him. He felt alone and alienated, only making his condition worse. Connor's father helped him get a job at one of Salem's supermarkets as a store clerk when he turned sixteen. The monotomy of the job helped Connor suppress the voices but soon the voices reemerged, stronger and angrier. After being repeatedly beaten down by the voices, Connor decided to placate the voices by doing a few minor things for them. This included stealing some foodstuff from his workplace and skinning small animals. He thought this would make them go away. He was wrong. The voices only got worse. Connor was soon forced to commit self-harm to satisfy the voices, but that predictably did not work. Eventually, Connor was forced to quit his job due to "emotional distress". After that, the voices vengefully called for Connor to do one last thing for them: burn down the his workplace. Connor pleaded and begged with the voices but soon enough caved ans did the deed. On the morning of August 4, 2071, Connor was found curled in the fetal position in the ashes of the store, murmuring to himself all the while. It was determined that the perpetrator of the crime was Connor, and he was quickly brought to court for arson. After being forced to take the stand, it became clear that Connor was mentally unstable and not accountable for his crimes. The court and Connor's family agreed to have Connor institutionalized and treated for schizophrenia. Connor met his family for one last time in September before he was sent off to Oregon State Hospital. They were more ashamed than happy to see him. That did not help Connor at all. Institutionalized Connor was put in Oregon State Hospital in 2071 and stayed there for six years. His time there was actually more productive than he could have expected. In the State Hospital, young Connor was put on a daily schedule by the staff and was booked to talk to a therapist about his schizophrenia. The therapist was an attractive woman right out of college, and Connor appreciated his time with her. Also, the regimented schedule also improved Connor's behavior. It was soon clear though that Connor would never integrate back into normal society. He constantly talked back to the voices in his head and refused to not acknowledge them, even with his therapist's advice. He even associated one of the voices, a reasonable one, with his therapist. Therefore, Connor had to stay at Oregon State Hospital indefinitely (or so he thought). He was treated well due to his good behavior, but his mental facilities did not really improve. Medication barely helped, and he had to just deal with it. On October 23, 2077, three nuclear bombs fell on Salem. None of them directly hit Oregon State Hospital. Still, the staff locked down the facility. Connor stayed calm, sitting in his room reading. He barely noticed the bombs going off. This went on for two days, with food continuing to come in and everyone being confined to their rooms. However, the food stopped on the third day. The voices told Connor something was very wrong, and he agreed. Connor yelled out to ask for release. After an entire day, the door to Connor's cell finally opened. Another patient, already outside his cell, had heard Connor's cries and decided to open the door. Connor thanked the patient, who introduced himself as Spencer. Oregon State Hospital had begun to fall apart even though it had survived the initial bombings. Radiation leaking in had ghoulified several patients and a couple of those had gone feral. The staff that had not died from radiation poisoning were subsequently killed by the feral ghouls. The only survivors were three patients who seemingly had a immunity to radiation. Spencer, a necrophiliac serial killer who had been committed thirty years before, had armed himself and killed the feral ghouls. Spencer told Connor of what had happened and introduced him to the other patient, a schizophrenic named Jeb. Jeb was one of the most well-behaved patients and was terrified of Spencer and the possible return of his insanity when all the medication was gone. The three looked outside at Salem and saw chaos. They decided that it would be best if they stayed in Oregon State Hospital, though they would live apart so as to not alienate each other. Spencer took over as their de-facto leader and took over an entire wing as his "territory". Connor and Jeb took over their own areas. Connor's first job was to clear his area of the remaining bodies, ghoul and human. However, before dumping them outside, a little voice told Connor that he was wasting good meat by doing so. This disgusted Connor, but he could considered that. Ultimately, Connor decided to keep the human bodies "just in case" and dump the ghouls outside. Luckily, the food in the Hospital would probably last for maybe months and Connor wouldn't need the bodies. All three of the remaining patients still ate in the cafeteria. While they ate, Spencer encouraged Connor to indulge in his condition, saying that to deny his passions and emotions would mean a loss of self. Two weeks after the bombs fell, Oregon State Hospital was attacked by looters and raiders who hoped some supplies might still be inside of the undamaged building. Spencer did most of the fighting and killed six attackers. Connor used a makeshift club to kill one of them. However, the attackers set the hospital on fire to spite the defenders. Jeb choked to death from the smoke of the fire. Connor's area was also burned down, and he took refuge in Spencer's wing as the fighting concluded. Spencer's wing stank of rot and death. It wasn't even blood from the battle, it was old. A voice encouraged Connor to continue to look. Entering Spencer's sleeping area, Connor retched in revulsion. The corpses of various women lay naked in the room, all violated by Spencer. However, the body that enraged Connor the most was his former therapist. He had loved her, and Spencer had violated her. The voices whispered to him, saying that Spencer killed her, that justice had to be served. Leaving Spencer's wing, Connor encountered Spencer returning triumphantly from defeating the invaders. Spencer began to talk enthusiastically about leaving and starting a new group, maybe even a new nation. Before Spencer could finish voicing his plan, Connor swung his club at Spencer, catching him full in the face. Spencer fell to the ground but got up quickly, raising his revolver. He met by another smack to the face by Connor's club. That sent Spencer to the ground. After that, Connor smashed Spencer face for almost fifteen minutes until it was a bloody pulp. After Spencer breathed his last breath, Connor got into an alcove, curled up, and went to sleep in the burning Oregon State Hospital. The next day, Connor got up to see the smoking ruins of the hospital. Searching the ruined hospital, Connor found several charred corpses he recognized, Spencer, Jeb, his therapist, and the invaders. The bodies seem to whisper to him. The strongest two though were Spencer, who advocated for chaos, and the therapist, who advocated for order. Connor, damaged beyond repair, felt that the myriad voices fighting for attention were a pain, and two would be just fine. So, Connor cut the heads off of the corpses of his therapist and Spencer. He was happy to find that they still seemingly whispered to him. Knowing rot would soon set in, Connor stripped the flesh off of the heads to make them just skulls. Connor used the skulls as visual references for the two primary voices in his head for the rest of his life to cope. Connor stayed in the hospital for a few days but soon decided that it would be better to just leave the blasted ruin. So, Connor combed the hospital, gathering all the supplies he could find (food, Spencer's weapons, and medicine). After another day of preparation, Connor left the ruins of Oregon State Hospital to seek his fortune. He never looked back. Wandering Connor Prowse's wanderings began in February 3, 2078 as he left Oregon State Hospital and made his way into the ruins of Salem. Connor walked among the shattered buildings of the city, talking to his two heads and scavenging for equipment. He wondered where everyone had gone, ignorant of the effects of radiation poisoning on the population. The remaining residents, ghoulified, had fled the town when winter had come in 2077. Connor stayed in Salem for another week before deciding to go north, figuring California to the south probably got glassed. Wartimes Mythos Appearance In his early years as Connor, he was a lean bearded young man. He often had a kind of tick with his facial features, owing to his mental problems. When he wandered, Connor wore traveling leathers and various scavenged Vault-Tec paraphernalia. Once Connor became Skull-Taker through and through, he became unrecognizable from his former self. Skull-Taker became a muscle-bound monster. His beard became more of a matted mane and covered much of his midriff. Personality Both Connor and Skull-Taker had misgivings about the voices but ultimately followed their directions. The voices defined his life and made him do various different things. It sometimes made him violent, sometimes charismatic, sometimes even timid. These unpredictable traits helped him enough to become the leader of a new tribe that would become the Oregon tribals. Equipment Immediately after leaving the Oregon State Hospital, Connor donned traveling leathers and scavenged a lot of Vault-Tec equipment, with some improvised armor as well. His weapons included a .44 magnum revolver and a makeshift machete. He also kept two skulls to talk to and serve as surrogates for the voices in his head. Once he became Skull-Taker, he donned little more than some tribal rags with bones as armor. Skull-Taker used a ballistic fist as his main weapon along with various machetes. Quotes About By Category:Tribals